Power driven doors installed in vehicles usually include safety features intended to prevent closure of the door upon an intruding, or foreign, object such as an item protruding from the vehicle doorway, or the hand of a vehicle passenger. U.S. Pat. No. 6,297,605 discloses a power lift gate in which a pinch sensing arrangement is mounted at the upper part of the vehicle lift gate. The pinch sensor of the '605 patent is an electrical switch. Unfortunately, the system of the '605 patent does not provide more than minimal protection for objects intruding upon the lower part of a lift gate adjoining the vehicle's taillights. A system and method according to the present invention provides not only protection in the upper part of the lift gate, but also improves the protection offered by the lower portion of the lift gate in the vicinity of the vehicle's taillights.